Investigating neural networks for goal-oriented actions in mice

http://www.tripodilab.com/

From the act of catching a prey to that of grasping an object, animals must put in register their motor acts with the surrounding space. In the motor domain, the construction of such a map must be defined by a register of three-dimensional displacement vectors.

The aim of this project is to identify the neural networks and the underlying computations responsible for the construction of such a spatial-motor map.
A particular focus of this project will be the identification of the genetic and functional mechanisms responsible for the alignment of sensory and motor maps.

The candidate will use a range of state-of-the-art electrophysiological and imaging techniques in vivo combined with mouse genetics and novel viral approaches for circuit tracing.